Tribute To Roker Pier Poem by Paul Reed

The young ones do not know as yet
Of the battles, the ships lost and wrecked,
When your straight silhouette was besmirched
Under high waterlines bedecked;

When you took the endless bitter nights
And made the surging tides your slave,
Borne Roker footsteps that echoed the past
As you turned back each angry wave;

When you bent to follow the horizon line
Standing solidly, proud and fast,
Over-swept by the salted gales
Absorbing the North Sea’s blast;

When your stern stonework protected the pebbly beach
Until it seemed you could stand no longer,
When each failed battering only enhanced your pride
With each lashing spume you grew stronger;

When your attention never split or wandered
Between venomous spit and becalming slop,
You guarded unceasingly the River Wear
Carried the ghostly fishermen atop;

When we were saved by your sluggard walls
From the mad and reckless storms rescued,
The young ones only see your rugged veil
And a frustrated sea, subdued.